Why Health Advice That Sounds Oh, So Certain Is Often Oh, So Wrong

As I grow more…mature, shall we say, one thing has become increasingly clear to me. I don’t know anything. Obviously, I am being a touch facetious, but as I grow older, listening has become more important than to sound so absolutely certain about what I am saying.

 “I don’t know.”

It sounds small, weak even. But I’ve come to believe it’s one of the strongest habits I have built over the years.

I have coached and mentored a good number of cooking teachers in my day and one thing I always try to impress on them is to say those three little words. And then add: but I will find out.

The longer I do the work that I do, the more obvious it becomes that this habit might matter most in fitness, nutrition, and health. It seems that health is the domain where confidence gets rewarded far more than accuracy. And for me? That’s a huge deal.

We are drowning in information now; the good, the bad and the ugly. Social media, AI-generated copy and images create a false certainty layered on top of false human certainty. It’s harder than ever to tell real from fake, nuanced from exaggerated, careful from careless.

But as I watch videos and read, one thing has become clear: when people speak with absolute certainty about things that seem absurd, you know they are more intent on proving their point and gaining followers (and likely selling you something) than they are concerned about giving you tools to live better.

And the more outrageous their claim, the more exposure they get.

The content is rife with absolutes: always, never, the best, the worst.

“Oatmeal is the worst thing you can eat.” “Blueberries are the worst for inflammation.” “Steak and butter are the best for fitness and muscle building.” You know the drill.

Framing content in absolutes is a clickbait accelerant at best and rage-bait at worst. It’s designed to provoke uncertainty, outrage, or allegiance more than understanding. And facts play a very, very small role.

That’s how you get hooked into something dangerous.

Practical advice that can ride the wave of real life is infinitely boring and will absolutely (there’s that word…) not grow your social media.

Take ingredients. How many times have we seen influencers peddling whatever they are peddling but as they do, choosing an ingredient to demonize as the cause for whatever ails you? They tell you that whatever the villain they are choosing is the end-all cause of modern disease.

And that is a huge mistake.

If it was just annoying content, then we could simply laugh and scroll on or read another, more accurate article. But this potentially dangerous advice is designed to create fear and has its root in deception.

Research shows us that health information on the likes of TikTok or Instagram is rife with misinformation, exaggeration and advice that could genuinely cause people harm. While that doesn’t come as a shock, it’s important to realize that social platforms tend to reward confidence and shock, not humility or accurate context.

I wish I could tell you that this was new. It’s not. Our technology is different; there’s more bombardment with social media, but the playbook is the same. Let’s find a villain; the one ingredient or food that is the cause of all our problems.

I am old enough to remember that in the 1980s, fat was the villain.

In the 1990s, carbs became (and still remain to some degree), the bad guys in our stories.

In the 2000s, gluten, sugar, lectins. It’s like Whack a Mole; just choose your enemy.

Today, seed oils seem to be in every influencer’s crosshairs. Tomorrow, we will find another enemy of our wellness.

Here’s what makes all these outrageous claims so seductive. There is a kernel of truth in most of the claims; a tiny bit; maybe a debunked study or a study of 6 people that yielded the results desired. But without context or nuance, we go down a dark rabbit hole of opinion after opinion from self-proclaimed expert after self-proclaimed expert.

It’s exhausting. And none of it looks at the big picture: that the root cause of what ails us is bigger than seed oils. It’s the overall abandonment of the art of cooking; the brazen lying advertising that seduces us into ultra-processed foods; the skipping of sensible advice that works slowly in lieu of the magic pill being peddled.

How do we navigate this world of certainty from people who should be anything but? For me, it’s always returning to the basics that are rooted in decades, if not centuries of evidence.

It’s not sexy to say that the healthiest way to eat is whole grains, beans, lots and lots of vegetables, fresh fruit, nuts, seeds and good quality fats (even seed oils can qualify here). A bit of sweets like dark chocolate or good quality home-baked dessert can round out your healthy diet, creating variety, interest and giving you the nutrition you need.

Oh, and cooking. We must…must cook. And stop eating animals. Just stop it. There’s no good news, not for them or us…or the planet. Like it or not, it’s the truth.

It’s not sexy, but it works.

Like exercise, we do not need new trendy program after new trendy program. We need to move our bodies for our hearts and stress our muscles with weights. As my hero Arnold would say, do the reps.

Will new information arrive? Real, reviewed information grounded in science and reality? It will and you will see it and have to decide if it’s what you need for the life you wish to lead and the health you wish to create. The beauty of science is that constant and consistent curiosity that leads to new discoveries, real discoveries.

There’s real joy in learning, experimenting and remaining open and flexible so you can evolve. Beliefs and dogma that are so tightly welded to your identity will leave you confused and feeling no better.

Life demands flexibility. We must be willing to update our thinking when new information arrives so we are not locked us into decisions that no longer serve us, long after the evidence has changed.

That’s the real gift of admitting you don’t know. Even when you finally do know something, you stay open enough to learn again. If I clung to everything I once believed about nutrition or health or fitness, I’m not sure I would even be alive today.

Life is not about being right or creating a following based on the thinnest of truths. It’s about a willingness to stay curious, to evolve and to be wrong. I cannot tell you the number of times I have been wrong about our personal wellness, but we changed course and grew from the experiences we have had. Thank God, we were more attached to being human than to being right.

Try living with a bit of “I don’t know” and see where your curious research takes you.

Or not…I don’t know…